Hawai'i excels in mortgage payments
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i homeowners were best in the nation when it came to paying their mortgages during the second quarter, according to a survey released yesterday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The rate of Hawai'i home mortgage defaults was relatively unchanged at about 2 percent since the first three months of the year, but recent delinquency increases in other states moved Hawai'i's rank up from third lowest at the end of March to lowest for the three months ended June 30.
The strong ability of Hawai'i homeowners to maintain their house payments is a reflection of the state's surging economy and low interest rates.
Hawai'i delinquencies hovered near a 10-year low, at 1.99 percent in the second quarter — nearly unchanged from 1.98 percent in the first quarter. The percentage of foreclosures initiated in Hawai'i during the second quarter also was the best in the nation. That rate fell to 0.11 percent in the second quarter from 0.16 percent in the first quarter.
Nationally, mortgage delinquencies rose to 4.36 percent in the recent quarter, up from 3.94 percent in the first quarter. Foreclosure initiations nationally dropped to 0.38 percent compared with 0.45 percent in the same period.
The Washington, D.C.-based trade group said that, nationally, delinquencies should continue to decline in coming years.
"Based on the continued expansion of the economy and strong home-price growth in many regions, it is unlikely this small upward blip represents a reversal of the downward trend in delinquencies we have seen since the middle of 2001," Douglas Duncan, Mortgage Bankers Association chief economist and senior vice president, said in a statement.
In Hawai'i, mortgage delinquencies gradually have fallen from around 3 percent in the late 1990s, and was at 2.57 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
The 1.98 percent first-quarter rate was a 10-year low, and had been lower only eight times since 1979, association data showed.
The association survey's covered about 38 million mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties, including 146,599 in Hawai'i.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
